Budget Day, This Year Now Funded, 100 Days of John Boehner, See Ya' Senate, President's Deficit Working Group to Shrink, Trivia

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THE NEXT FIGHT'S ALREADY HERE -- "The U.S. House is poised to approve a budget [today] that with its call for steep spending cuts and overhauling Medicare will help define Washington’s expanding debate on its finances into next year’s election campaign," Brian Faler writes for Bloomberg. "Democrats are banking that what they dubbed the 'Ryan-Tea Party' budget will be seen by voters as going too far. ... Obama said: 'Put simply, it ends Medicare as we know it.'" http://bloom.bg/fYP2Cu

RYAN'S VIEW -- Rep. Paul Ryan writes an op-ed in the Washington Post, laying out his argument for the House budget he wrote. "Our budget offers a compassionate and optimistic contrast to a future of health-care rationing and unbearably high taxes. We lift the crushing burden of debt, repair the safety net, make America’s tax system fair and competitive, and ensure that our health and retirement programs have a strong and lasting future. These issues are too important to leave to the politics of the past. If President Obama won’t lead, we will," he writes. http://wapo.st/eRy2qN

WHAT IT DOES: A QUICK SYNOPSIS -- Leaving aside its rosy projections of economic growth, here's a broad outline of the Ryan plan: It would cut $5.8 trillion in spending over the next decade, much of it from slashing Medicaid and turning it into a block grant program for the states and converting Medicare into a "premium support" system in which recipients get assistance to buy private health insurance plans. Medicaid alone would be scaled back by $1.4 trillion. Ryan would cut taxes on individuals and corporations, to the tune of about $4.2 trillion over 10 years. In all, his plan would result in $1.649 trillion less in net spending than is currently projected by CBO between now and 2021.

SUNSHINE FORECAST -- "With the future of Medicare and Medicaid at stake, Florida Republicans face a tough vote on Friday on a budget plan that would revamp and scale back popular health care programs for the elderly and the poor," William E. Gibson reports for the Sun Sentinel and the Orlando Sentinel. "The ramifications are especially important to Florida, home to 3.3 million Medicare patients, including more than 862,000 in South Florida and 397,000 in Central Florida. Major senior organizations, like AARP, strongly oppose the Ryan plan. On the other hand, many of the GOP members – including four who beat Democratic incumbents last year – ran on promises to cut the budget and lower the national debt. Of those four, Sandy Adams of Orlando, Dan Webster of Winter Garden and Allen West of Plantation said they'd vote for the plan. A fourth – Steve Southerland of Panama City – said through a spokesman that he was still undecided."

BOEHNER'S CHOICE -- "Both sides are declaring a “bipartisan” victory in keeping the government funded for the rest of the year, but for Boehner there’s a less desirable reality: If he’s going to get big things done, it may have to be at the expense of the most aggressive voices on the right who helped make him speaker," Fast Break and Marin "The Frosh Princess" Cogan write for the hometown paper. "Going forward, Boehner will have to choose whether he wants more Tip O’Neill moments – cutting bipartisan deals with an opposition president in a divided government – or whether he wants to shut down the deal making machine and cater to an unforgiving tea-party wing that will complain about any major deal that involves winning Democratic votes." http://politi.co/gVVgvI

SPEECHLESS: JOE CROWLEY -- The New York House Democrat responds to the GOP's first hundred days in control of the House with a very quiet one-minute floor speech. View it here http://bit.ly/fKC3Ub

THE ROGERS REPORT: FY '11 BILL CLEARED -- "The landmark spending bill approved by Congress on Thursday is a first step toward reversing years of steady growth in domestic appropriations and sets the stage for still more difficult budget fights this spring that will sorely test the same bipartisan coalition. House passage was secured only when Democrats crossed the aisle to rescue Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) from defeat after scores of defections on his right. Hours later, the Senate acted with far less suspense but again on a bipartisan 81-19 roll call," David Rogers writes for POLITICO. "The same Democrats who helped Boehner on Thursday won’t be back Friday to support the wholesale changes to Medicare and Medicaid envisioned in the Republican budget resolution. And it can’t be forgotten that Thursday’s votes came about only after lawmakers were chastened last week by walking to the precipice of an unprecedented wartime shutdown of the government." http://politi.co/hXaXOg

WHY BOEHNER VOTED -- Speaker John Boehner typically doesn't vote, keeping in tradition wiht most House speakers. But he chose to cast his first vote of the year yesterday -- it was a "yes." Here's why, according to spokesman Michael Steel: "The Speaker knows some Members are going to take heat for this vote. He wanted to be clear that he’s right there with them.”

DE-FUNDING DERAILED -- A pair of "enrollment resolutions" that would have eliminated funding for Planned Parenthood and the new health care law fell short of the 60 votes needed in the Seante to attach them to the big spending bill. The Senate voted 42-58 on the Planned Parenthood measure and 47-53 on the total health care law de-funding resolution.

GOOD FRIDAY MORNING, and welcome to The Huddle, where it sure seems like we're more than 100 days into the Congress, it's been pointed out that Don Stewart of Sen. Mitch McConnell's office used "mulligan" to describe President Obama's deficit speech the day before Huddle, did -- and that Betsy Newmark, an AP History and AP Government teacher in Raleigh, NC, blogged it two hours before Huddle came out http://bit.ly/eVq6We, Courteney Cox and David Arquette are advised that it doesn't count as marriage counseling if it's broadcast -- even on Howard Stern's show (h/t People Magazine), and it's tax day.

Please send tips, suggestions, comments, complaints, corrections, a recording of the conversation between House whips Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) before the spending-bill vote yesterday, and sports scores (like 3-2, the score by which the San Jose Sharks beat the L.A. Kings in their hocikey playoff opener last night) to jallen@politico.com Fast Break is @Jake Sherman. Robo is @PoliticoKevin. New followers include @ElleExplains and @Roarty_NJ.

TODAY IN CONGRESS -- The House is in at 9 a.m and out by 3 p.m. The matter on the floor is the House budget resolution. There should be a vote on that, as well as separate roll calls on the Democratic alternative, the Republican Study Committee alternative, the Congressional Black Caucus alternative, and the Congressional Progressive Caucus alternative. It appears Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) didn't offer his one-man budget after all.

The Senate's out until May.

AROUND THE HILL -- Not much going on beyond the budget.

BOEHNER'S 100 DAYS: THE VIEW FROM HOME -- Malla Rulon of the Cincinnati Enquirer has an overview of Boehner's first 100 days. "His homes and offices have become protest-magnets: Hundreds of protesters have shown up at his Washington townhouse and West Chester district office. Liberal groups protested the steep spending cuts. Five gay-rights activists were arrested at his district office. Abortion opponents rallied there in favor of a GOP-backed plan to cut federal funding for Planned Parenthood. And activists chanting 'Don't tread on D.C.' protested at his Capitol Hill home over plans to prohibit the district from using its own money to pay for needle exchange programs and abortions," Rulon writes. 'Through it all, the calm and even-keeled Boehner has stayed on message, slowly and steadily rolling out one bill after another that capitalizes on promises made in the Pledge to America: repealing the health care law, prohibiting federal dollars from being used for abortions, cutting costly government regulations, and dismantling the unpopular Troubled Asset Relief Program, which bailed out financial institutions.' http://bit.ly/hw88Jt Enquirer timeline: http://bit.ly/er7TAm

-- Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) to ABC News: 'I don't think you can make a judgment on Boehner or anyone else in the Republican leadership after just one battle. I think hes doing very well. Hes getting an A-minus in my book.' http://abcn.ws/i43s6Q

AMASH TIMES -- Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times profiles Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) -- "Through Tuesday, Mr. Amash (pronounced uh-MOSH), a Republican who represents a portion of southwestern Michigan, has not voted with the majority 25 percent of the time, the most of any House Republican. Mr. Amash, 30, a lawyer and the youngest member of the freshman class, stands out even in the patchwork quilt of the 86 often-colorful Republican freshmen. He has voted against his party on important symbolic measures, like one that would strip financing from Planned Parenthood, and those most minor, like a measure to amend the Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission Act to extend its termination date," Steinhauer writes. http://nyti.ms/eQrTxT

HUDDLE FLASHBACK I -- 2/24/11 -- HUDDLE SCOOP: FROSH 'PRESENT' BUT UNACCOUNTED FOR -- Fast Break and I have the scoop on 30-year-old House freshman Justin Amash, who has voted "present" seven times already this year. "A future political foe may have a difficult time nailing down where Rep. Justin Amash stands on some issues. The 30-year-old Michigan Republican voted 'present' five times last week on substantive questions, avoiding 'yes' or 'no' votes on such hot-button items as funding for Planned Parenthood and the Obama administration’s policy 'czars,'" we write. "His predecessor, Rep. Vern Ehlers, had voted 'present' just four times in the previous eight years — excluding quorum calls that required members to be recorded present or not. So far, Amash has offered an explanation for just one vote, posting a Facebook message to explain that he refused to render a judgment on Planned Parenthood’s funding because the singling out of one entity was, in his mind, 'improper and arguably unconstitutional.' Amash’s office did not reply to several requests for comment, and several other Republican aides were unaware of the voting habits." http://politi.co/i2dzcX

HUDDLE FLASHBACK II -- 3/2/11 -- In a story about how freshmen voted on the original continuing resolution, we wrote "Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) voted against the class 30.1 percent of the time, including the five times he recorded himself as “present” rather than supporting or opposing an amendment outright."

THE PRESIDENT'S DEFICIT PLAN: PENTAGON PUSHES BACK -- "Since Mr. Obama took office, Mr. Gates has pushed a series of trims to defense programs, but the Pentagon leadership was clearly startled by the dimensions of that cuts the president proposed," Nathan Hodge reports for the Wall Street Journal. "The White House first informed the defense secretary of the decision on Tuesday." http://on.wsj.com/hb3Gj

TOO MANY COOKS? -- "Top Republicans already have won one concession from the White House, replacing President Barack Obama's proposed 16-member group to broker a long-term deal with a smaller number of Democrats and Republicans. This came roughly 24 hours after Mr. Obama requested that eight members from each chamber work with Vice President Joseph Biden on a framework for deficit-reduction by June," Damian Paletta and Naftali Bendavid write for the Wall Street Journal. "White House officials had hoped the creation of the 16-member panel wouldn't be a controversial part of what is likely to become a tense and political process, and the immediate Republican objections show how far apart both sides are as they begin looking at ways to constrain the deficit." http://on.wsj.com/icx6ME

BIPARTISAN AGREEMENT -- The size of the panel was also of concern to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her Democratic leadership team.

PANEL NOT GETTING OFF THE GROUND? -- "The bipartisan Congressional team that President Obama proposed this week to negotiate a long-term debt-reduction plan with the White House is shaping up to be smaller and less ambitious than he spelled out that is, if it gets off the ground at all," Jackie Calmes writes for the New York Times. "The Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, told Mr. Obama at the White House on Wednesday that a 17-member group would be too large to be constructive, and he is considering naming just one Senate Republican instead of four, Republicans say. One said that he is considering naming Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, the number-two Republican in the Senate who, like many Republicans, adamantly refuses to consider raising taxes for high-income Americans, as Mr. Obama has proposed. The Republican speaker of the House, Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, indicated to reporters early on Thursday and privately to other lawmakers that he might not name anyone to the negotiating group." http://nyti.ms/eRMTzt

REDUX -- McConnell was the GOP negotiator on last year's end-of-session tax deal, and Boehner handled all the duties on this year's spending omnibus. So far, the GOP has to feel pretty good about one-man negotiating teams.

FAIL-SAFES FAIL -- "Reagan's fail-safe was designed to automatically trigger sharp cuts in government spending if massive deficits continued to spin out of control. But politicians couldnt keep their hands off the fail-safe, adjusting it when precious programs were threatened, and ultimately they killed the provision. The cuts were too enormous to be politically tolerable, said Rudolph Penner, who at the time was head of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office," Zachary A. Goldfarb and Karen Tumulty report for the Washington Post. "Now a similar fail-safe is a hallmark of President Obamas plan, one of several proposals that might be more unrealistic than the president acknowledged in his speech, outside analysts and economists said in interviews Thursday." http://wapo.st/gW46BP

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND FUNERALS -- Michael McAuliff of the Huffington Post gives Sen. Olympia Snowe some attention for a new military funerals bill. "The controversial, gay-hating Westboro Baptist Church would be restricted from holding its inflammatory protests outside the funerals of U.S. service members under a new bill being offered by a bipartisan group of senators," McAuliff writes. "Drawn up by Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), the Sanctity of Eternal Rest for Veterans Act -- or SERVE Act -- would mandate two hours of quiet time before and after funerals, and set a 300-foot buffer zone around the funerals and a 500-foot buffer around routes to and from the memorials. It sets fines ranging from $25,000 to $50,000, and jail sentences of up to two years." http://huff.to/gtBzMR

OBAMA: ADRIFT WITHOUT PELOSI? -- "Now Obama is, in a sense, rudderless," Dana Milbank writes in his Washington Post column. "He has no use for Pelosi, who, made radioactive by the Republicans in 2010, is minority leader in a chamber that consigns the minority to irrelevance. To the extent that Republicans bargain with Democrats, they do it with Pelosis understudy, Steny Hoyer (Md.)." http://wapo.st/f5mIu4

KEVIN'S MUST-READ -- From Slate: Why goalies in the Irish sport of hurling -- where shots routinely travel at more than 100 miles per hour -- dont want to wear facemasks: http://slate.me/fI9fIH

YESTERDAY'S TRIVIA -- No one got it right. Rep. Steve LaTourette was the last Republican to vote for a Congressional Black Caucus budget.

TODAY'S TRIVIA -- Who was the last Republican to win a Senate race in New Jersey? Send answers to jallen@politico.com Prize: Mention in Monday's Huddle.